Words of caution

7/31/1985

On January 28, 1986, at 11:30, A.M. just one minute after lift off, the Space Shuttle Challenger and its crew were destroyed in an explosion. Not long after the accident President Ronald Reagan ordered an independent commission to investigate. Roger Boisjoly, an employee at Morton Thiokol, Inc., worked on the team responsible for the development of the O-rings. He wrote this letter to Morton Thiokol's Vice President of Engineering raising the possibility of a disastrous O-ring failure.

National Archives, Records of Temporary Committees, Commissions, and Boards